Sandstone climbing is very specific type of vertical movement on a very specific kind of rock - sandstone. As sandstone is very unique and quite sensitive there are some rules and requirements for climbers.
The climbing technique is quite specific too. Considering there are many cracks, chimneys etc. It is very useful to know how to jam. Not necessarilly all routes but especially the old classic routes usually lead to the top of the tower via cracks and chimneys as those used to be easiest for old time climbers who normally didn't have stamina and strenght to climb walls.
Even on modern routes on the walls with regular holds climbing requires good balance and sense of friction rather than strong biceps and stamina. Routes on sandstone are often poorly bolted with rings sometimes 10 meters away from each other but distances of 30 meters are no exception. It often makes you use your own protection but no metal allowed. Sandstone climbers are only allowed to use fabric gear such as knots, slings etc. Every next ring is a valuable victory here. This makes climbing mentally very demanding. In exchange you get a beautiful sense of moving on a very friendly surface and every route will be rembered for a very long time.
Neverthless there are some rules that need to be foĺlowed. Chalk has been a big issue on sandstone for a ver long time. There are some areas where it is still strictly forbidden such as Prachov but most other places have become very tolerant to chalk using as arguments for protecting rock by not using it have proved irrelevant.
Very important though is strict ban of climbing on wet stone. It damages rock and especially can be very dangerous as sandstone becomes very fragile when wet.

Every single sandstone area is very unique not only because of the untouched nature, that is strictly protected here but also for the specific rock structure. In Adrspach it is very smooth sandstone with best holds being cracks or very roundy slabs. Therefore difficulty grades of the Saxon (East German) system that is used here can be very misleading compared to Prachov or Labak with a lot of holds that remind us of typical limestone routes.

 

Grading system: